1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates generally to checkout systems and, more specifically, to a checkout system that is capable of handling items that are not compatible with RFID tags.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many retailers have attempted to reduce expenses by streamlining operations at checkout. Typically, a checkout clerk either manually types in the price of an item to be purchased or scans the barcode on the item at a register checkout station. More recently, these register checkout stations, which have been staffed by an employee of the retailer, have been replaced by self-checkout stations. The self-checkout stations reduce expenses for the retailers while offering convenience and time savings to customers.
An issue with the self-checkout station, however, is that the customer still has to individually scan each item. The process of scanning each item is time-consuming, particularly if the consumer has many items. The type of customer that purchases large quantities of items is the “big ticket” type of customer that retailers want to encourage to return. However, this is also the same type of customer that is required to spend the most amount of time at a register checkout station, no matter if the checkout station is staffed or a self-checkout station.
One solution, which is currently being considered, employs the use of radio-frequency identification (RFID). A RFID tag/attachment can be placed on each item, and when read, the RFID tag can include specific information about the item, such as price, identification, expiration date, serial number, etc. By placing a RFID tag on each item to be read, an entire lot/cart of items can be scanned at once, which considerably decreases the time required to read a large number of items, as compared to individually scanning each item.
An issue that arises with using RFID tags to read large numbers of items at once is that many items may not be entirely compatible with RFID reading. Items that reflect, scatter, block or attenuate the radio waves used with RFID may prevent some items from being read by the RFID reader. Examples of these types of items include metals items, such as soup and pie pans, and liquid items, such as juice and liquid laundry soap. To compensate for this issue, attempts have been made to change certain system variables, such as RF frequency and power, scan rate, and number of RF receivers, to reduce the number of incompatible items. However, none of these changes have been able to completely reduce the incidence of incompatible items. There is, therefore, a need for a RFID-based checkout system to be able to handle RFID incompatible items.